I received a note this morning from the Express & Star, informing me that as they were scrapping the newspaper’s classical what’s on column, they no longer required my services as a freelance journalist.

After 20 years of service, the news was delivered in a brief, two par e-mail from the current features editor. I expected nothing less.

A strange feeling has hung over me for the rest of the day. I felt that odd rush of insecurity that haunted me at the beginning of self-employment. It’s difficult to say why - I was paid only £20 per column and so its never been exactly central to my business plan. But still…

I guess it’s a kind of delayed mourning. The final confirmation that a phase of your life has gone forever.

Later in the morning, I found the antidote to the feeling. I went to the bank and paid in the latest stash of cheques, which came to over two and a half thousand quid.

So I’m doing all right. God’s got his eye on me. And these days, I am really only left with one regret.

That I didn’t do what I’m doing now many years earlier.

Channel 4 is to show a programme in which two illusionist attempt to “reproduce” the miracles of Jesus. Nope, I’m not going to dignify it with a hyperlink.

C4 calls it “an alternate take on Christmas”. I’d call it an act of easy cowardice, calculated to offend. Don’t hold your breath for that “alternate take on Ramadan”, will you?

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. This, from a channel which has already exposed a group of people to weeks of prime time humiliation by claiming to train them for a space mission - without any apparent thought for its psychological, emotional and moral implications.

You won’t read anything more moving this year than Gee Walker’s declaration of forgiveness for the racist thugs who killed her son. If you want to know what Christianity is all about - well, this is it, folks.

Vatican renews ban on gay priests

Am I alone in thinking that it’s all a bit late for this? Everyone knows that there are many gay priests out there, in all denominations.

And given that the Catholic church insists all its priests remain celebate, what difference does sexual orientation make? I fail to see the need here for any pronouncement from Rome.

Its only effect so far appears to have been to act as a springboard for the usual, depressing drivel from those “Christians” all too eager to use convenient bits of the Bible to reinforce centuries of hate and prejudice.

Conservative Christendom’s unending obsession with questions of personal sexuality is one which never fails to amaze or exasperate me.

Are we in danger of losing the gift of forgiveness?

How many times, I wonder, have I clumsily knocked over my drink, omitted to perform some trivial chore, or forgotten to get in touch with someone I promised to phone? What can I say? You couldn’t begin to count them. That’s because I’m careless.

We all are. Some more so than others, but carelessness is part of our humanity, part of our frailty.

If our children carelessly knock over and break something precious or valuable we might well get angry. We might even insist that they make restitution by paying for a replacement. But we’d be pretty harsh to spank them. Because there was no intent. It was an accident.

Unfortunately, in the increasingly secular, litigation-rich world in which we live there’s no such thing as an accident. Everything is somebody’s fault. We all need to descend on the offender like a pack of wolves and rip them apart. We need to smell blood.

For an illustration of this, look no further than the Government’s announcement of a new offence of causing death by careless driving, for which drivers could face up to five years in prison.

Let me say at once that I do not approve of those who drive dangerously, nor those who drink while doing so. But we are not talking here about aggressive driving or downing eight pints before getting behind the wheel. We are talking of a moment’s inattention or misjudgment ending in tragedy.

I understand the anger of victims. If a careless driver knocked down my wife, hanging would be too good for them. When someone dies suddenly, tragically, there is the constant ache of opportunities missed, potential not fulfilled, days not lived. Yes, I would be red with anger. But victims make very poor lawmakers, for that very reason.

Victim support groups are right to make people aware of the pain and anguish their members suffer. All too often, however, their calls for “justice” suggest a very different, far uglier word. Vengeance.

If you have accidentally taken someone else’s life, how must that feel? If you are anywhere near being a decent, sentient human being, you won’t need me to provide the answer. Will anything be made any better by splitting up another family? There can be no argument of deterrent. Look in the mirror. This could happen to you, someone you know, someone you love. Tomorrow, perhaps.

Of course there should be natural consequences. A heavy fine. A lengthy driving ban. All that sounds like justice to me. But prison? That sounds like vengeance.

And a society built on vengeance will eventually tear itself to shreds.